Master of Design in Inclusive Design
Supports for complying with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)
How do I make my web site accessible? How do I make my office documents accessible? How do I make information available in alternative formats? Businesses and organizations read our AODA Help.
Newest Projects Announced
May 9, 2017
The IDRC has recently begun a number of new projects:
The Social Justice Repair Kit (with funding from the Oak Foundation) - http://sojustrepairit.org
The goal of this project is to
- help youth movements and social justice initiatives to become welcoming environments for youth with learning differences
- benefit from the advantages of inclusive design.
BIG IDeA (An Enabling Change Project with the Government of Ontario) – www.bigidea.one
BIG IDeA (Business Innovation Guide for Inclusion Design and Accessibility) brings together businesses, customers with lived experience of disability and designers to collaboratively advance accessibility innovation in Ontario and create a culture of accessibility and inclusion. We are:
- Collecting inclusion barriers and hosting design challenges to create inclusive alternatives
- Mapping accessibility of Ontario in our BIG IDeA mapathon [https://tinyurl.com/kllbe44]
- Recognizing accessible businesses through customer reviews, showcases and badges
- Providing resources, training and help on inclusion and AODA compliance
Get involved, BIG IDeA is for everyone!
Our Doors are Open (An Enabling Change Project with the Government of Ontario) - http://opendoors.idrc.ocadu.ca
Our Doors Are Open: A Multi-Faith Welcome to Persons with Disabilities will develop good practices for inclusive community engagement by places of worship of all faiths across Ontario, and support them to achieve a culture of inclusion in services and community gatherings. Our Doors are Open will provide:
- training-materials and resources,
- community inclusion workshops
- train-the-trainer seminars
- accessibility assessments and guidance on digital communications
- accessibility mapathon kits to help you build awareness in your congregation
Welcome to the IDRC
The IDRC is a research and development centre at OCAD University where an international community of open source developers, designers, researchers, advocates, and volunteers work together to ensure that emerging information technology and practices are designed inclusively. Learn more about the IDRC.
The Three Dimensions of Inclusive Design
The Inclusive Design Research Centre and the MDes in Inclusive Design are working to better define and update what is meant by “Inclusive Design”. This is more challenging than you think as the practice has flexibility and adaptation at its core. Any criteria, principles or guidelines cannot be absolute but need to be relative to the user, the context, and the goal. We have even considered creating an inclusively designed definition that is presented in a flexible way depending on your particular perspective. We have landed on three dimensions that best explain the practice and principles of inclusive design.
Latest News
IIDEX 2016
November 30, 2016
The IDRC participated in the IIDEX National Summit on Accessibility on November 30th, 2016.
This summit focused on appreciating how diverse stakeholders help shape and improve our design.
The summit’s panels focused on two essential issues: Inclusive Play and Policy. The IDRC’s Director, Jutta Treviranus, lead the Summit.
Featured Projects
FLOE
FLOE provides the resources needed to enable inclusive access to personally relevant, engaging learning opportunities for the full diversity of learners and content producers. Through the Open Education Resources community, FLOE makes tools available that transform, augment, and personalize the learning experience.
Prosperity4All
Prosperity4All develops the infrastructure and ecosystem that will allow for a ubiquitous auto-personalization of interfaces and materials, based on user needs and preferences, to grow (promote self-rewarding collaboration, reduce redundant development, lower costs, increase market reach and penetration internationally).
Cloud4all
Cloud4all is an European Commission FP7 grant that will develop key parts of the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII), building the knowledge base and algorithms needed and evaluating the ability of the concept to work across platforms, technologies and applications.
Preferences for Global Access
The goal of Preferences for Global Access is the design and development of web software to assist users with disabilities in creating online user profiles that specify their needs and preferences for how online information and services should be presented to them. The key to ensuring successful access to information and services is a personal statement expressing needs and preferences for specific contexts and goals. These "preference sets" automatically configure information and applications to meet individual. This team is developing tools and technologies to support users in specifying their individual needs and preferences in several application settings.